SWSG Sat Oct

 Sacramento Weavers & Spinners Guild Saturday Group met at the library in Davis, Calif. Our topic was SPINNING! We had a few members from the Davis Spinners Guild meet up with us. Above is a few of the members. I only got a few pictures taken this time.

Here is a few more people in our little circle of fiber. 

Kelly shows off a couple of gloves she is knitting. 

Erica from the Davis group is working on a knitted dress.

Betty from the Davis group is spinning some "berry colored" BFL roving on her Baynes spinning wheel.

Here Linda ia showing us how to use a nostepinde to make a center pull ball.

We discussed the mini-workshops coming up in November at the Tuesday Guild meeting. 

We also discussed other meeting locations as we are having challenges with the library rooms.

Next 3 months we have reservations for Arcade Library in Sacramento. Here is the list of topics for the next Saturday meetings:

Nov. - Card Weaving - Jenn
Dec. - Fiber Prep for spinning - Group
Jan. - Edge Finishing - Linda

Keep checking our web page for updates!
http://www.sacweavespin.org/saturday

Have a good day!

Lambtown 2013

Lambtown USA, Dixon Calif, Where the entertainment begins early and continues all day! Above is Square Dancing with some members of the audience getting their first lesson!

Members of the Sacramento Weavers and Spinners Guild had a short meet up. Linda showed us a Louet "hatbox" spinning wheel she bought on ebay.

At Lambtown there is sheepdog trials. Above is two different dogs working.

This dog takes a cooling dip in the water trough after competing.

Local 4H is on hand to let people get up close with rabbits, goats, guinea pigs, and chickens.

Above are the three teams working on sheep to shawl contest. They all start with a bag of wool that they spin into yarn then weave into a shawl in a number of hours. The shawls are then judged for craftsmanship and wearability.

Here is the judging of the shawls. Judge is touching the shawl that eventually won. Congratulations to Hangtown Fibers Guild of Placerville, Calif.

 Here is the wool fleece judging contest. You can almost feel the electricity in the air.

It's Lindsey, Carol, and Jocelyn, old friends and Angora rabbit breeders. They have a booth packed with angora rabbit wool!



Carol has a Babe Electric Spinning Wheel. She was telling she has worn out 3 control pedals but it keeps on spinning. It unpacks small enough to be put into that picnic basket.

Some of the nice displays.

Neat spindles!

More colorful displays.

This is Aunt Janet's Fiber Mill display. This colorful wool rolags look like unicorn dreadlocks.

This is Marilyn Petch modeling a felted scarf she made with woodland theme. Notice the sparrow depicted on the right side.

There was food, there was games!

Top picture is a beginning spinner working her first drop spindle. Bottom is a couple of ladies with bagfuls of spinning to be done! And Lambtown USA runs again on Sunday!

It was a good day!

SWSG Sat Sept

On Sept 21 the SacramentoWeavers and Spinners Guild met at Arcade Library to show library visitors how to weave. Above I am making cardboard looms 5 inch x 10 inch using a paper cutter. I am cutting notches with a coping saw. I actually two hands when cutting but I am using one hand to work the camera.

 Here are some weavers working on the cardboard looms. Some are new weaves, others are a little more experienced.

Here is a couple of the looms with weaving in progress. This is the work of a couple of the library visitors who dropped in on us. 

Here we are looking at a demo of inkle weaving on a Schacht inkle loom.

Above are some recent weaving projects completed by members of the Guild. The top right red piece is plain weave with some pick up pattern in the stripe. The top left is a blanket that was done in double weave to create a double wide cloth. The bottom is a scarf done in shibori style with some hand painted color.

And here is the little handout distributed with the looms at the demo. It was a good day!

You can usually follow our schedule on the Guild website
http://www.sacweavespin.org/saturday

We plan next to have a meetup at Lambtown in Dixon next week on Oct 5. We'll meet up at 11 a.m. near the food court, grab a table or two and share some lunch together.  Then it'll be off to have some fun at Lambtown.

As you may have noted, the Arcade Library had to cancel our meeting room for October 12.  We were able to secure the meeting room at the Davis Public Library for October 19 from 10:00-1:00.

The Davis Public Library is located at 315 E. 14 Street in Davis, and we'll be meeting in the Blanchard Room.  Here's the link:  http://www.yolocounty.org/Index.aspx?page=256

Have a good day!

Green In Progress

Working on the leno details. Every so often I twist pairs of yarn. Since I can't find my pickup sticks I am using a ruler.

As I finish the leno row I use the ruler to hold the shed open and push the shuttle through. 

Here is a close up of the weaving. In between the leno is regular plain weave done with the rigid heddle.

More pictures later.
Have a good day!

Green Unknown Cone

Setting up the Cricket rigid heddle loom with this cone of yarn I found at the thrift shop for $3. The label says 3/13 Meadow Green, but does not show what kind of fiber. But let's just try it anyway. I found the yarn thickness is about 14 wraps to the inch so I am going to use the 12 epi heddle.

I am using a paper clip for threading through the heddle.  I can't find my little clamps but by warping from chair to chair through the heddle I can proceed. 

 Another view of the warp from chair to chair. I made the scarf 8 inches wide and about 7 ft long.

 Here is the ends at the warp beam. I tied the loops off the chair to the beam with string. I did groups of three loops.

I have one of the original design Cricket looms so the ratchet and pawl is on the inside of the frame. I want to be sure that I leave a few empty slots on the heddle at that side to avoid a lack of room to operate the heddle. Also be sure the warp beam stick is out of the way when winding.Notice the string wrapped around the bottom stick of the heddle. There is a string on each side to hold centered in frame to prevent the heddle from falling over during warping.

Here I use a book bag on the carpet as a deadweight while winding the warp onto the warp beam. Since the warp is 8 inch wide, I can use 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper as warp separators.  I write numbers on the papers so I know how many more sections I have to weave. I used 7 sheets for this piece, so about 77 inches.

I used some rope to tie the loom to the chair to stabilize it while I wind the warp onto the beam.  You can see the white paper warp separators.
 

I added some tape to my paper clip hook handle to make it more comfortable. I cut the loops on the cloth beam side. Each slot has two threads. I pulled one thread from the slot and put it through the adjacent hole. Then move to the next slot and across the heddle. I notice the stick shuttle does not have small slot on it. I cut a small slot to hold the thread when I get close the end of the supply on the shuttle.

I have to wrap this up. Here is the loom prepared. I have a couple of card strips and some white cotton yarn  to start the weaving. On the other side of the heddle is a couple of sticks to help the warp stay lined up as it goes through the heddle. The stick shuttle has been wound on the side with a figure eight pattern. This keeps a low profile on the yarn bundle to get through the low sheds on the heddle.

Next step is weaving!

SWSG in Davis

Sacramento Weavers & Spinners Guild Saturday Group met on August 10 2013 at Mary L. Stephens Library (aka the Davis Branch of the Yolo County Library.Thanks Linda for finding a meeting place on short notice.

During our "show & tell" period Jude' showed off this roving and her Trindle spindle. She doesn't weave but uses the yarn in her knitting projects. She also passed around a sample of muskox she has been spinning. If you could just feel the softness.

You can view trindle at
http://www.etsy.com/shop/trindleman

Vonnie has a frame that she used to test some yarn for compatibility. Then she wove a narrow scarf with the yarn.

Linda showed a scarf she nuno felted at a workshop. It is beautiful. The log cabin placemat is a finished project.

Sara brought in a Weavette square loom. that has been in her family since the 1950s. It belonged to her grandfather who used it to make a blanket from the woven squares. Sara also visited with Cathy who is in physical rehab. Sara tells us Cathy is in good spirits and is making progress.

Lisa went to a dye class and brought a card with the dye results.

Susan brought the bag she wove on a rigid heddle loom with boucle yarn. She described the challenge of the bumpy yarn not going the easily through the heddle so she used a stick to beat the weft. The other piece she say is a fold scarf she created following a free pattern she found on the internet.

I couldn't help but notice the baskets people bring to meetings. From left to right: Jude', Linda, Vonnie

Our next Saturday Group meeting will be in Sacramento on Sept 21 2013 from 12-4 p.m.
Topic: Weaving 101, the public is invited as we give basic weaving lesson and show different styles of looms.

For more information see the Guild website
http://www.sacweavespin.org/saturday


It was a good day!

SWSG Saturday Group May 18

On May 18 2013 it was the meeting of the Saturday Group of Sacramento Weavers and Spinners Guild at Arcade Library, Sacramento, CA  From left to right Vonnie, Sue, Kathy, Janelle, and new spinner Kelly.

From left to right Connie, Linda, Jan, Peggy, Stephanie, Ardith. Not pictured is Jane, our membership chair who was sweet enough to come out to help us with with new memberships and renewals! Thank you Jane! Those kindnesses make us feel like we really are part of the big Guild.

After a few announcements it is time for Show and Tell! What have you been up to?!

Connie shows off her watermelon socks that she knitted.

Since our topic is fingerweaving Jan brought a wall hanging that she made back in the 70s. Its been hanging on her wall all this time.

Stephanie attended the Guild workshop last month with Bobby Irwin on "Shimmering Colors - The Magic of Iridescence" She brought the sample pieces. These picture do not fully convey the subtle color effects of the piece.

Peggy brought a couple of shawls she made on a rigid heddle loom.

Ardith didn't like her yarn until she combined it with other yarn. The green face and eyes are part of the carpet at the library.

 

Kathy showed off the knitting she has been working on.

Kelly is a new spinner and she is just getting started on the obsession.

Janelle is working on upcycling materials. She is holding a basket she crocheted with medical tubing and plastic. It is sterile material that was stored past its shelf life and would end up in the landfill if she didn't do something with it. She also has a water bottle holder with strap that she made from video tape.

Our project was finger weaving using pencils and cardboard frames Here is some of our results.

Next meeting is June 29, 1-4 PM Arcade library
Visit our webpage for schedules
http://www.sacweavespin.org/saturday

It was a good day!

Other items of interest
Kathy said she loved the roving she got back from Morro Fleece Works
http://www.morrofleeceworks.com/Pages/About.htm

Books

A Manual Of Fingerweaving
by Robert J Austin
Published 2000, Crazy Crow Trading Post
ISBN 1-929572-00-X

Finger Weaving: Indian Braiding
by Alta R Turner
Published 1973 by Sterling Publishing
Reprinted 1989 by Cherokee Publications
ISBN 0-935741-13-5
previous ISB 0-8069-5264-4

The Basic Book Of Fingerweaving
by Esther Warner Dendel
Published 1974 by Simon & Schuster
ISBN 071-21697-X

Fingerweaving Untangled
by Carol James

I love Carol James book.  It's the perfect book for
beginners with enough advanced patterns to keep you
busy for a long time. You can't beat the color pictures
and diagrams showing the hand movements.

You can order at this site:
http://www.sashweaver.ca/